SUMMARY:
Co-workers with chronic halitosis can be a nightmare to deal with, particularly if they are your superior. Often, there is virtually no socially acceptable way to inform them, short of an anonymous greeting card. Possibly to remedy this very situation, one Swiss company recently banned bad breath in its employee handbook, according to the UK Daily Mail.

Posted: January 26, 2011

Co-workers with chronic halitosis can be a nightmare to deal with, particularly if they are your superior. Often, there is virtually no socially acceptable way to inform them, short of an anonymous greeting card. Possibly to remedy this very situation, one Swiss company recently banned bad breath in its employee handbook, according to the UK Daily Mail.

Critics have been divided over whether the unusual measure, taken by the global banking firm UBS Aktiengesellschaft, was visionary or Orwellian. In particular, UBS stated in its employee code of conducted that onion breath and garlic breath is unprofessional and strictly prohibited.

The news provider reported that the banking corporation has been "roundly mocked" for an additional 44 pages of dress code restrictions, which specified that women should wear flesh-toned undergarments and men should don ties that "match the bone structure of the face," among many other recommendations.

While the dress code is potentially laughable as a whole, the suggestion that employees keep garlic and onion breath in check may not be so bad. If left unchecked, halitosis can interfere with your working relationships and alienate your co-workers.

To eliminate halitosis at work and at home, individuals with bad breath may consider rinsing with a specialty breath freshener after meals.